Review: FreePianoLessons4Kids.com

UPDATE**Free Piano Lessons 4 Kids is now available in one website! YAY! Visit HoffmanAcademy.com to visit the new website!

Have you ever wanted to learn how to play piano, or wanted your children to learn, but the funds for lessons just weren’t in the budget? Well, I am so excited to tell you about FreePianoLessons4Kids.com!

Let me tell you where I am coming from. I am a classically trained pianist. I took piano lessons for a very long time, and while I never played professionally I was a church pianist and not to brag or anything, but I did win some awards for my arrangement of several pieces. As a teen I would spend hours at the piano because I loved it. If you ever see my dad he can tell you about how I was his alarm clock every day for a year. My parents knew the value of music, my dad never complained about hearing “Stand By Me” played at 6am every morning :)

I have always wanted my children to take piano lessons but until recently it hasn’t happened. You may think it would be easy for me to teach my children how to play piano, but I quickly found out that being able to play the piano and being able to teach others to play are completely different things.

As much as we desire to have piano lessons for the kids, they are a want, not a need. Of my 5 children, four have expressed interest in learning how to play the piano. At the going rate of $30/30 minutes, piano lessons are a want that we just can’t afford.

A few months ago I was again browsing the net looking for a program that would allow me to teach my children how to play without overwhelming any of us. This is when I found FPL4K on YouTube. The lessons appeared to be pretty solid, I love the fact that the children start off with a bang by learning how to play a song in the very first lesson. The lessons make sense to me, and they make sense to my children who did not know how to read music. The lessons are short, between 5 and 10 minutes each, perfect for children who are on the wiggly side (*cough* my boys *cough*) and easy to fit into everything else going on in your day.

*TIP* You’ll need to have YouTube playing near your piano. If your piano is near your computer or a TV with YouTube access you’re gold. Unfortunately my piano is not, I work around this by letting the kids watch the videos on my smartphone while seated at the piano. The screen is smaller so it’s not ideal but it saves me from moving furniture :)

You can use the free lessons as they are but if you really want to bring the lessons to life you can buy supplemental materials for just $23.95. I wasn’t going to purchase these materials but after watching my kids come away from each lesson so happy I decided to take a chance and purchase them. I am *SO GLAD* that I did! The materials (63 PDF pages to print, a parent’s guide and 33 audio files) are of the highest quality and very fun for my children and will lead them through 41 lessons.

What I like about FPL4K:
-The lessons are free! No, you can’t really replicate sitting next to a real live teacher but this is the next best thing.
-If you decide to buy the supplemental materials (and I HIGHLY recommend it!) they are very affordable.

What I LOVE about FPL4K:
-Mr. Hoffman is entertaining, teaching in a story manner. He even uses puppets to bring the lessons to life! By using stories to teach the lessons kids are more likely to remember their lessons.
-While the lessons are entertaining Mr. Hoffman does not talk down to the kids.
-This program is of interest to ALL four of my kids using it, they’re 6, 8, 10 and 14.
-You’ll start playing simple songs from the very first lesson, a great way to keep motivation high!
-Emphasis is put on rhythm first, reading music second. I know this sounds counter-intuitive but after a few lessons you’ll see that it makes so much more sense. Learning how to read music is complicated and students are much more likely to quit during this phase. By starting with rhythm the student gets to experience the joy of playing first and is more likely to continue when things get tough.

What I’m not crazy about:
Nothing. Not a thing. There is nothing that I dislike or would change about this program.

As a special gift to our readers FPL4K has offered to give away THREE sets of the supplemental materials! Isn’t that WONDERFUL??

To enter just fill out the little gadget below (if it doesn’t appear click the link). The contest is open from 3pm 5/6/13 to 11:59pm 5/12/13 EST. I will notify the winners on 5/13/13 via email, Facebook or both. Winners have 48 hours to respond or the prize is forfeited and a new winner will be selected.

*I received nothing but a thank you in exchange for this review and had planned on doing it before I was contacted about doing a giveaway. I am not selling anything and there is no purchase necessary to enter this contest. And thank you to my mom and dad for working so hard so we could have piano lessons as kids, I am so thankful for the experiences the piano has given me.*

24 thoughts on “Review: FreePianoLessons4Kids.com”

I began taking piano lessons almost 2 years ago. I would love to be able to get Katherine started. I have a great teacher that only charges $10/30 minutes, but a free program to get started would be perfect!

I would love this for my 16 and 11 year olds.They love music and would be so good at piano.((and it would deter them from video games)) I know we cant afford this otherwise and it would thrill them, and myself .

My daughter started using this program on Tueday and loves it. She even got my son to enjoy it and he’s playing dime of the songs too.
Btw, commented yesterday also and I don’t see my comment, but oh well, I’m trying again today.

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Hi! I'm Meg, mom of 6, wife, blogger, future recovering crazy cat lady, frugalista, and a Floridian living in Portland, Oregon. You can read about me, my family, and our frugal journey on my About page! I look forward to sharing and hearing from you!